The Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics


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wanderingnana said:
I really enjoyed the opening ceremony and the Queen's bit with James Bond and the Corgis was priceless. I thought the lighting of the cauldron was magnificent, but really, Paul McCartney has lost what little voice he had- he is way past his prime and I felt so badly for him that he was performing at a subpar level. I like most of the uniforms, well the uniforms from GB were a little unusual but they did look comfortable. Anyhow, the British as always came through splendidly and put on a great show.
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I liked these Ceremonies much better than from China. It seemed more personal & heart felt, as to china's Over the top ceremony. Now, don't get me wrong. China's show was very good but, came off as Bigger is better. NOT.

I will say this, I do wish that the Queen would smile more. The scowlling(sp), makes her look angry.

I though that the James Bond / Queen's skit was cute/funny. However, Pissed off that I am about the US's uniforms being made outside of the country(btw, this should be RL last time in charge Olympic uniforms)once again sending jobs away that should have been done here. Anywhoooo, I am sorry but Team GB, What were they thinking. Awful, just awful. Hell, they did not even have their country's colors on. The uniforms looked like second rate space suits from Nassa. Who made their uniforms( I know that it has the be a big designer who got that job)

Both the US & GB designers kicked the pooch on this one. 1 on where the uniforms were made & the other on the look of the uniform.

No Gold medals on this one.

P.S. On the OC, Love Ali. He was & is great however, he shouldn't have been there. His health has been getting worse over the years. I am sure that it only puts more stress on his fragil body. Also, I did not understand his part in the ceremony period( he isn't british)
 
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Panther2000 said:
P.S. On the OC, Love Ali. He was & is great however, he shouldn't have been there. His health has been getting worse over the years. I am sure that it only puts more stress on his fragil body. Also, I did not understand his part in the ceremony period( he isn't british)
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I thought it was quite touching that they included Ali in the carrying and raising of the Olympic flag. All of the flag bearers of the Olympic flag were chosen because of their contribution to the betterment of humanity. The bearers symbolically passed the flag to Ali and from there to the flag raisers.

Why Ali? Other than being "the greatest"? It had to do with his contribution to humanity in the field of sports. He was in London actually for the inauguration of the Generation Ali Beyond Sport Award held July 24th with David Beckham.

--"David Beckham and Muhammad Ali took to the stage together at the Beyond Sport Summit in London on Tuesday 24th July to present the inaugural Generation Ali Beyond Sport Award. The boxing legend and the former England captain presented the award, which recognises Service, Leadership, and Action in the community, to Matiullah Haidar."

Beyond Sport

It must have taken Ali a very great deal of energy and stamina to accomplish what he'd done in London over the past week or so but he definitely presents a clear idea on how much the human spirit can accomplish when it really wants to and doesn't give up.
 
Panther2000 said:
However, Pissed off that I am about the US's uniforms being made outside of the country(btw, this should be RL last time in charge Olympic uniforms)once again sending jobs away that should have been done here. Anywhoooo, I am sorry but Team GB, What were they thinking. Awful, just awful. Hell, they did not even have their country's colors on. The uniforms looked like second rate space suits from Nassa. Who made their uniforms( I know that it has the be a big designer who got that job)

Both the US & GB designers kicked the pooch on this one. 1 on where the uniforms were made & the other on the look of the uniform.

No Gold medals on this one.
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The US is probably the only Olympic team that is funded thru individual donations (like mine) instead of government funds. If the USOC can get cheaper uniforms made in China, I'm fine with it because it means more of my money is left to go to the athletes, training, travel, etc. If you don't like that our uniforms are made in China, I (respectfully) challenge you to put your money where your mouth is and donate to the USOC. The more money they have available to them, the more they can spend on pricier US-made uniforms. How do you plan or budget for something when your budget is completely dependant on donations, and times are tough for donors?
 
wanderingnana said:
Stella McCartney designed the GB uniforms
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I thought that I heard that she was doing them. Ok I will give her a pass on this one. She is usually very good.

RubyPrincess168 said:
The US is probably the only Olympic team that is funded thru individual donations (like mine) instead of government funds. If the USOC can get cheaper uniforms made in China, I'm fine with it because it means more of my money is left to go to the athletes, training, travel, etc. If you don't like that our uniforms are made in China, I (respectfully) challenge you to put your money where your mouth is and donate to the USOC. The more money they have available to them, the more they can spend on pricier US-made uniforms. How do you plan or budget for something when your budget is completely dependant on donations, and times are tough for donors?
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Don't try to pop off on me. There were pissed off people through the country that werent happy. Even the designer apologiezd for this screwup. BTW, I do donate. Both Winter & Summer games, Pipe/Smoke.:rolleyes:
Osipi said:
I thought it was quite touching that they included Ali in the carrying and raising of the Olympic flag. All of the flag bearers of the Olympic flag were chosen because of their contribution to the betterment of humanity. The bearers symbolically passed the flag to Ali and from there to the flag raisers.

Why Ali? Other than being "the greatest"? It had to do with his contribution to humanity in the field of sports. He was in London actually for the inauguration of the Generation Ali Beyond Sport Award held July 24th with David Beckham.

--"David Beckham and Muhammad Ali took to the stage together at the Beyond Sport Summit in London on Tuesday 24th July to present the inaugural Generation Ali Beyond Sport Award. The boxing legend and the former England captain presented the award, which recognises Service, Leadership, and Action in the community, to Matiullah Haidar."

Beyond Sport

It must have taken Ali a very great deal of energy and stamina to accomplish what he'd done in London over the past week or so but he definitely presents a clear idea on how much the human spirit can accomplish when it really wants to and doesn't give up.
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I totally argee with what you are saying. Ali is beyond the sport there are very few people that reach that level. My only real worry is his health. If wife practially had to hold him up. I love the guy always have.
 
Panther2000 said:
I totally argee with what you are saying. Ali is beyond the sport there are very few people that reach that level. My only real worry is his health. If wife practially had to hold him up. I love the guy always have.
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I think Ali is the type of man that wants to grab as much out of life as he can and wouldn't take to being infirm and coddled very well. He's a fighter and will draw his last breath as a fighter. In a way he reminds me of a Duke that we all know and love so well.
 
wanderingnana said:
Stella McCartney designed the GB uniforms
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on E!Online it was mentioned that Stella McCartney immediately during the ceremony twittered that she made all teamGB outfits except this one :)
(I think this one was from Next?)
 
I'm still not over the gold armpits.....


LaRae
 
EIIR said:
Was it just me, or was the Queen sitting with her legs crossed?! Is it not usually knees together?
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I saw that too and I agree with you - knees together usually. ALso saw her picking at her nails when gb athletes went past. Not like ourt Queen at all I thought
 
Was a bit disappointed with the Australian coverage I saw in the lack of showing members of the royal families. I did notice they gave the Moroccan royal family some air time though and they had two cute kids with them looking very excited.
 
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Is it just me or did anyone else miss the Queen's smile in the film clip and at opening ceremonies?:flowers:
 
Lord Coe has issued a statement saying the woman was part of the Olympic Opening Ceremony and took it upon herself to walk in the parade "obviously overcome with excitement" he said. Obviously no security people were actually paying attention.
 
The finnish commentators of the opening ceremony told, that Danny Boyle had especially asked at the press conference for the commentators, that the commentators shouldn't talk much during the numbers at the opening ceremony. This made the job of the commentators quite difficult, because there was so much to tell about the history of England which was described at the elements of the ceremony, and now they could tell only a little part of it.
 
Sadly, I fell asleep, so I can't comment. I did stir in time for the march of the athletes, which I always enjoy.
 
I'm not quite sure where to discuss this as there's no general thread for the games.

What do we all think about the location of the cauldron? Last night it was put out and moved within the stadium amidst huge criticism towards Seb Coe who has denied it being available for the public to see after the games.

And what about the empty seats issue?
 
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The cauldron idea for the opening ceremony was inspiring and it is designed NOT to be a permanent fixture

Each of the 205 petals are being given to each participating country - so its being dismantled at the end of the games.

Anyone who sees or attends the athletics events will see it and so will those who watch the events on the screen around the olympic park

It wont see seen by any one just walking around the park and who is not looking at the screens

IMO a bunch of nay-sayers are making a mountai n out of nothing. And they are most likely people who are not attending the athletics.

As for the empty seats - to quote Sir Clive Woodward, at Beijing there were events where no one turned up. 3000 seats have just been made available. If the "Olympic Family" who demand seats in advance can't be bothered to turn up then we've done the right thing and made them available.

No issues here.
 
Whilst I like the dismantling thing, looking at a screen isn't the same as seeing it for real. Tickets to athletics are/ were expensive massively, so it's not peoples fault that they can't see it. Their 'excuse' is that that's the way it was done in 1948.

As for the reselling of tickets I find it amusing because who's going to be able to get time off work at such short notice to go and attend an Olympic event? Unless you work for yourself or have a lenient boss it'd be almost impossible. I myself would love to go, if I could find the cheaper tickets just for the atmosphere but I would not be able to get the time off work. I prefer the idea that when 'good' seats are unfilled , people who are at the venues in the cheap seats should be allowed to move down.
 
Can't please everyone and its better than leaving them empty.

IMO not being able to see the flame is not a problem to the majority of people walking round the park. It they had left it where it was (admittedly not possible a its in the middle of the throwing/tossing/etc arena) peeps wouldn't have seen it anyway.

what made it special was 205 pipes with the petals on the end rising up - not possible anywhere but in an open space. Moving it must be difficult - moving it UP where it could be seen was obviously a step too far. These are 205 gas pipes!

It's not the end of the world and worth it because that opening ceremony was GOLD
 
It's just been moved to the end of what will be the 100m final line. There's pleasing everyone and pleasing no one, yes the concept was beautiful the petal thing is a fabulous idea. Although the petals look a bit discoloured bow of course. But isn't the Olympics for the people? It could have been designed better for the public I believe.

As to whether the Olympic's Ceremony was 'gold' is a matter of opinion, I along with a lot of other people were disappointed.
 
Ah well - that's life I guess. I LOVED it along with the majority of opinion I've read in the press and amongst people I know.
 
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Overall I would say the opening went down rather well. NBC commentators have spent that last 3 days raving about it.
 
It was extinguished? That's not possible as the flame must be lit until the end of the games. One way or another, the flame would have had to have been kept alight.
 
Madame Royale said:
It was extinguished? That's not possible as the flame must be lit until the end of the games. One way or another, the flame would have had to have been kept alight.
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I'm not sure, I heard it on the radio on the way home. They put it out apparently, moved it, then relit it this morning. I imagine they kept it alight somewhere I'll look on the DM see what they have to say.
 
i think that the opening of the olympics 2004 was much better! london olympics opening was great.. but can not compere with those of greece!
 
The light in the cauldron was transferred to a miners lamp (or lantern) - the same way as during the relay - and relit this morning. The relighting was carried out by a torch-bearer from the 1948 olympics, which I think is a lovely touch.

EDIT: Name of the torch-bearer is Austin Playfoot and he is 82 years old!
 
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on twitter

Prince Charles ‏@Charles_HRH
You'd have to be stupid to think that Mother actually jumped out of the helicopter. She was pushed.
 
susan alicia said:
on twitter

Prince Charles ‏@Charles_HRH
You'd have to be stupid to think that Mother actually jumped out of the helicopter. She was pushed.
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omg. :lol:
 
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